Should Maplewood, South Orange Combine Fire Departments?

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Should Maplewood and South Orange combine their fire departments? The answer – at least according to a recent report – is “yes.”

After almost a year of crunching the data, a report on the “Feasibility of Consolidation, Merger or Sharing of South Orange and Maplewood's Municipal Fire Protection Services” has been released to the public, with statistics that suggest the two townships might benefit in several ways if they share a single fire department… as well as its cost.

The study was commissioned by a joint committee from both towns in 2016.

“During our analysis, we found robust evidence that increased efficiency, better service, and cost savings are possible through a consolidation of the two separate fire departments into a single entity,” researchers from Manitou Inc. stated.

“Our findings are clear,” researchers emphasized. “The communities of Maplewood and South Orange would be better served by combining their fire departments into a single entity.”

Read their full report here.

The study makes several arguments for sharing services, many of them financial. Assuming a scenario with 14-on duty staff members:

• “If current staffing levels were maintained and one chief position was eliminated, a savings of approximately $196,899 would be realized. If the number of deputy chiefs were reduced from eight (on shift) to four, the salary difference assuming they were ‘bumped’ down to captain ranks would be $44,400.”
• “By studying individual leave usage, shifts could be balanced to possible permit reductions in shift staff of one or two positions resulting in a net cost savings. We are confident that four positions could be eliminated – one per shift – without negatively impacting overtime costs. Under this scenario, annual cost savings are estimated at $582,659.”
• “Capital costs would be reduced going forward as a smaller fleet would be maintained.”
• “Improved fire insurance premiums for commercial properties.”
• “Through shared staffing and resources, training programs and certifications could be improved overall.”

Staff members that would be eliminated under a shared fire department could be reassigned to new duties, the study states.

Here’s how the organizational structure of the new fire agency would look, according to researchers:

“These rules would be contained within a shared services agreement developed and approved between the townships. Day to day oversight would rest with a management committee. We believe a management committee composed of elected or appointed officials of both communities. The four-member committee would be composed of two members from each municipality, with the fire chief serving as a fifth non-voting member. In the event of a disagreement, the respective governing bodies would negotiate a resolution… Funding the combined entity could be apportioned by population, or based on assessed valuation. We recommend a formula that weighs both evenly.”

According to the report, some ways the South Orange and Maplewood Fire Departments can cooperate include:

• Consider automatic joint response to “Signal 9” alarms (smoke in the building); high life hazard automatic alarms
• Unify dispatch at REMCS
• Plan for coordinated upgrade to new interoperable radio system on statewide channels
• Explore feasibility of adopting Red Alert software under a common license
• Merge training programs

According to researchers, South Orange Acting Fire Chief Daniel Sullivan and Maplewood Fire Chief Michael Dingelstedt were “very supportive” of the study.

“While we made many recommendations, they should not detract from the overall positive dedication to serving the public, and impressive productivity of the members of both departments,” Manitou researchers stated.

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